Double-truck vehicle



o. F. wARHuS DOUBLE TRUCK VEHICLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 30. 1924miv w S Q a www@ f Fm:

INVENTOR BY ,Q m1, [SuM/Mw auf# 41,1, 'ATroRNEYb l April 24, 1928.

April v24, 1928.

1,666,921 o. F. wARHUs DOUBLE TRUCK VEHICLE Filed Augo, 1924asneets-snee: 2

l wf fl/-s ATroRNE 5 INVENTOR @CMQ/um `Patented I'Apr. 24, 1928.

UNITED STATES OLIVER MENTS,

1,666,921 PATENToFFIcE.

FRANCIS WARHUS, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- TOVERSARE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DOUBLE-'rauen VEHICLE.

Application led August 30, 1924. Serial No. 735,063.

This inventionv relates to vehicles of the -type having a body pivotallymounted on two trucks. The invention involves the steering gear for sucha .ve hicle, and relates in particular to the construction of thesteering gear for the rear truck.

Vehicles have been made heretofore having forward and rear trucks,in'whicli the rear truck is provided with front and rear wheels' andmechanism for turning the front wheels of the rear truck actuated by aconnection to lthose wheels from the body of the vehicle, theconstruction vbeing such that when the longitudinal axis of thebody isshifted angularly, the lateral movement of` a portion' of the bodyoperates through the to the front wheels of the rear truck to turn themabout substantially vertical axes. In vehicles of this type, asheretofore made, the front wheels of the rear truck have been mounted onthe truck to turn about substantially vertical axes. and

have been connected by va tie rod, to which the connection to the bodyof the vehicle is secured. With such a construct-ion, the two frontwheels of the rear truck are turned. angularly.

the same amount in steering the vehicle, and when these wheels areturned in this way, slippage of one or both of the wheels is inevitable.Toavoid such slippage, the two front wheels of the rear truck 4should-be turned angularly different amounts, and these amounts should be suchthat the prolongations of the axes of rotation of the two front wheelswould meet in the line of prolongation of the axis about which the tworear wheels turn. The present invention is directed to the provision ofan improved construction for e'ecting the turning movement of the twofront wheels of the rear truck, whereby those two wheels will be turnedthrough different amounts bearing a predetermined relation, such thatslippage will be avoided.

In the'present instance 4this is effected by the provision' of arotatable member upon the frame of the rear truck, ay connection fromthat member to the body of the vehicle, and connections froml thatmember to'the two front wheels of the rear truck, these latterconnections being so constructved and arranged that when the rotatableparts shown in Fig. 3.

of the vehicles track being turned about its pivot' a greater amountthan the wheel on the outside of t he-curve. When this is done, l

the two front wheels of the rear truck willv always be turnedl together,but will be turned through diierent amounts hearing a prescribedrelation, such that the prolongations of the `axes otrota-tion of thesefront wheels will meet at a point in the line of prolongation '-of the-axis of rotation of they two rear wheels.

vA construction embodying the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a planviewY of a double truckvehicle,

Fig. 2 is Van* enlar ed viewl of the rear truck, looking upward at thebottom of the truck and the vehicle bod Fig. 3 is a' plan view opaportion of the connecting mechanism from the vehicle body to the frontwheels of the rear truck, and

Fig. 4 is a detail view in section of the the body of Referringl tothese drawings,

the vehicle is shown at 5.andit is pivotally mounted upon a front truck6 and a rear truck 7. `These' two trucks may be of any suitableconstruction and may have any desired number of pairs of wheels, the'only essential, so far as this invention is concerned, being that therear truck shall have front wheels and rear wheels. and shallihave itsfront wheels mounted for turning move ment about two substantiallyvertical axes.' In the present instance the rear truck is shown ashaving a pair of rear wheels 8 (bf front wheels 9, these being front andrear axles 10 and 11, suitable springs 12 being provided, as is usual insuch truck structures. .The front wheels 9 are pivotally connected tothe front axle 10 to turn about substantially vertical axes, 13. Thepivoted member of each front wheel 9 is provided with a crank arm 14 bywhich turnin movement of the wheel about its pivotal axls 13 is elected.4

The front axle 10 has a supporting member or housing 34 securedtheretoby means ofv bolts 15, and this housing 34 forms a ivotall support for arotatable member 16, a olt-17. passing through' the housing 34 and themember 17 serving as a pivot about which the member 16 turns. Thismember-16 is sho-wn in the drawings ashavingthe form and a pair mountedon los of a wheel with an integral projection 18 at projection 18 of therotatable member 16 byl means of a pivot pin 22.

The rotatable member 16 is connected at points on-opposite sides of itscenter line to the two front wheels 9 of the rear truck. A

stud 23 is mounted on the upper face of the projection 18 and forms apivotal support for a clamping member 24, wliose outer end is split andis providedv with an opening to receive one end of a connecting bar 25which is clamped in the opening by ti htening the bolt 26 passingthrough the splltend ot the clamp 24.v The opposite end of theconnecting bar 25 is pivotally connected to the outer end of the crankarm 14 of one of the front wheels 9 of the truck. .It will be noted that'this stud 23 is mounted on the projection 18 a short distance to oneside of the center line of the projection and the rotatable member 16,

On the bottom of the ,projection 18 and an equal distance on the otherside of the center line of the rotatable member 16, is a similar stud23', on which a clamp 24 is pivotally mounted, and from this clamp asimilar bar 25L extends to the crank arm 14 of the other front wheel 9.

The manually controlled steering mecha-'" nism of the car operates toturn the front .truck or the -front wheels of that truck, and

when that is done while the vehicle is moving forwardly, the directionof the center line of the vehicle body is changedas a result of lateralmovement of the forward portion'of the body. This moves the end 20 oftheconnection 19 laterally and the connection 19 operates to turn therotatable member 16 about its pivot 17. Vhen this member 16 is soturned, it operates throufrh the studs 23, clamps 24, bars 25, andcranzlts 14 to turn the front Iwheels 9 of the rear truck about theirsubstantially vertical axes 13, but it will be noted that theseconnections are such that the two wheels 9 will not be turned the sameamount. This results from -the fact that the studs 23 and 23 of the twobars 25 and 25 are at different points about the circumference of therotatable member 16, and though these two studs move through the 'samearcs, the positions of those two arcs about the axis 17 of the member 16are different, and as a result the movement of the parts controlling onefront wheel is more effective in causing turning movement of that wheelthan that of theI parts forthe other wheel. c

Fig; a Stews the wheels of there truck turned to an extreme position,When lateral movement of the portion of the car body to which the member19 is connected at 20, oc-

movement of the two front wheels 9 for the axis of rotation of theseltwo. wheels are shown in dot and dash lines. It will be noted that thesetwo lines 27, and' 28 converge, instead of being arallel as they'wouldbe'if the two front w reels-were turned 'through' equal angles.- 28 meetat a lpoint in the line 29 which-is a prolongation of the axis vor therear wheels Also, these two .lines 27 and t 8` and when the constructionis suchthat these two lines 27 and 28 converge and meet in the line 29on the side of the vehicle on the insideV of the curve about which thevehiele is travelin there will be no slippage of the front w els 9 ofthe rear truc With this constructionthe two front wheels 9 of the reartruck are always turned togeth-` er, but at varying rates, dependingupon the angular relation of the car body to the rear truck existingatthe time, and at all times the angular 'relation will be suchy that theprolongation of their axes of rotation will meet inthe prolon ation ofthe axis of rotation of the rear w eels.

In the foregoing description, and in the annexed drawlngs, I have shownand described the construction which I prefer to employ in practicin myinvention, but I wish 1t understood t be employed in constructionsvarying over wide limits. Itis essential onl that the rear truck of thevehicle have the ody pivotally mounted thereon and have front wheelswhich may be turned angularlyv about substantially vertical axes, andthat there be a connection from the car body to these front at theinvention mayy wheels, such that when relative angular movement of thebody and the rear truck takes place, the two front wheels of the reartruck shall be turned angularly about their substantially vertical axesdili'erent but corresponding amounts. This can be eiected readily, and,so far as I am now aware, most conveniently, by utilizing a rotatablememrotatable member about its pivot is more ef? fective upon one of thefront wheels than upon `the other. The relative effect of turn- 4 wheelsf the Areartruck is also ap the front wheels of the front truc Krotatable member upon each of the two front wheelsvaries constantly asmovement takesplace, and is different for all diferentfpositions of therota/table member, but the result is to effect a differential turningmovement of these two front wheels, such that the vone on the inside ofthe curve will always be turned the greater amount, and the two willalways be in the correct relation for carryingthe vehicle around a curvewithout undue -slippage of one or'both of the wheels upon the Ground.

While the improved steering mec ianism hasbeen illustrated and describedin connection with the rear truck, it is obvious that that part ofthemechanism which eifects differential turning movement of the frontlicable to to effect differential turning movement of those wheels also.When the mechanism is so used the connection 19 may be' replaced by anying movement of this suitable manually controlled means for a0- tuatingthe rotatable member 16.

'I claim v 1.- A vehicle having a body,l a rear bogie truck having frontand rear wheels on which the rear portion of the bod is pivotallymounted, the front wheelsv of t 1e truck being pivotally mounted on thetruck to turn about two separatev substantially vertical axes, asteering member pivotally connected at its forward end to the body at apoint on the body forward of the truck and pivotally connected a itsrear lend to the truck at a point onthe truck forward of the ivotalconnection of the truck to the body, w ereby lateral movement of theforward end of the body causes the forward en d of the member `turnrelatively to the axis, and transverse members connected to -at a .angu

l cured ladjacent the connections between the steering membe Vwheelsandby ztheir inner en to be moved laterally and the rear end to truckabout a vertical the said steering member, the outer ends of the saidtransverse members bein connected to the front wheels` of the truc, andthe inner ends of these members bein arranged to vary theirlongitudinal-relat1on4 as the 'steering member is actuated for turningthe wheels about their vertical pivotal connections to the truckdilferentia-l amounts when the forward end of the body moves laterallyand the body turns relatively to the trucl'r.

2. A vehicle having a frame, a rear bogie truck having front and rearwheels on which the rear portion of the frame s pivotally mounted, theyfront wheels of the truck being pivotally mounted to turn aboutsubstantially vertical axes, a steering member connected at its forwardmember to the frame int forward of the truck so as to have ar `movementrelative tothe frame as the vehicle is turned, a rotatable membersefront wheels on the truck,

r and the rotatable member whereby the latter is rotatable according tothe angularv movement of the v former, and' transverse members'connected to the op osite front tatable member, the inner ends of said,transs to the rov erse members being spad apart and exv tending pasteach other, this relation being adapted to move the front'wheels throughvarying angles according to the'angleA assumed by the steering memberwith respect to the body as the vehicle is turned.

-In testimon whereof I ailix m OL R- FRANCIS AR S.

si nature.

